HMMWV weapon shield update.

We told you in PS 620 (Jul 04) that there is now a weapon shield available for the M1114 up-armored HMMWV and the M1025/M1026 HMMWVs.

The shield kit comes with NSN 2510-01-498-4996 and contains the shield, brackets, adapters, hardware, and installation instructions. It costs around $1,560.

The weapon shield weighs 116 pounds and must be considered part of the vehicle payload. If you're installing a shield on the M1114 for the first time, you need the turret stop ring, NSN 2510-01-501-2691. If you install the shield on an M1025/ M1026 with a serial number prior to 189936, you will need to install the improved turret lock ring, NSN 2590-01-192-4525.

Now the new info: Once the shield is installed, you can mount the MK19 or M2 machine guns on the MK64 MOD 9 gun mount, NSN 1010-01-412-3159, or MK93 MOD 2 gun mount, NSN 1010-01-502-7547.

But these systems don't have a way to lock the mortar's carriage and cradle to the shield. So when adjusting the horizontal axis of the mount, the gunner needs to move the universal pintle adapter to move the shield in sync with the mount's carriage and cradle.

TACOM ground precautionary messages 06 003 and 06-007 give ways to connect the shield to all the mounts. A PS article in issue 642 (May 06) will explain how to connect the shield to the MK64, MK93, and M197 mounts.